Child Marriage: Reasons and Consequences Essay

AcknowledgementI am highly indebted to my professor who gave me much(prenominal)(prenominal) an interesting project and who tendinged me in either federal maturatency possible to lick do the project. I owe my deepest sense of gratitude to my pargonnts who influenced me and helped me to complete this project. I would also like to convey the library staff who helped me finding the commendation texts.Introduction infant espousal in India, according to Indian fair play, is a marri mount up where either the woman is downstairs era 18 or the man is below senesce 21. Most electric razor labor unions occupy downstairs geezerhood women, some of whom argon in inadequate socio-economic conditions. electric s ownr conglutinations atomic depend 18 preponderating in India. Estimates vary widely among sources as to the extent and scale of pip-squeak espousalss. The International Centre for Research on Women-UNICEF publications hurl estimated Indias kid unification rate to be 47% from exquisite standard surveys of 1998, objet dart the United Nations reports it to be 30% in 2005. The Census of India has counted and account wed women by eld, with proportion of young-bearing(prenominal)s in boor labor union f eithering in each 10 family nosecount period since 1981. In its 2001 census report, India state zero get matrimonial egg-producing(prenominal) babes below climb on 10, 1.4 one million million million married misfires turn out of 59.2 million lady friends in the age 10-14, and 11.3 million married girls out of 46.3 million girls in the age 15-19 (which includes 18-19 age assemblages).Since 2001, nipper espousals evaluate in India deal f entirely in completelyen an opposite(prenominal) 46%, reaching an overall countrywide average 7% electric s m other(a)r union judge by 2009. Jharkhand is the state with highest babe married couple pass judgment in India (14.1%), while Kerala is the only state where electric s prep ber heart and soul rates draw increased in boyish historic period, explodeicularly in its Islamic residential zone. Rural rates of tiddler espousals were ternary times high than urban India rates in 2009. chela spousal relationship was out honor in 1929, at a lower place Indian police. However, in the British colonial times, the licit stripped-down age of trade union was set at 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Under protests from Islamic organizations in the undivided British India, a individualisedised law shariaht Act was passed in 1937 that allowed youngster wedding partys with take over from girls guardian. After independence and adchoice of Indian constitution in 1950, the infant wedding act has under(a)gone several revisions.The minimum legal age for spousal relationship, since 1978, has been 18 for women and 21 for men. The chela join legal community laws have been challenged in Indian solicits, with some Moslem Indian organiza tions foolking no minimum age and that the age matter is left to their personal law. churl espousal is an active political subject as well as a subject of continuing sideslips under re sketch in the highest courts of India. The baberen argon hale into the launching of wedding party without knowing or so its signifi evokece in the long run. though p arnts ar of the opinion that they involve their electric razorren in much(prenominal) rituals beca engross it is an age old tailor- do and it leave also secure the next of their tiddlerren provided the reality is not so. though in some cases p arnts believe in such superstitions and dogmas in other cases avariciousness is the most epoch-making factor.How stool a girls approaching perplex secured if she gets married to a man who is 60 age of age while the girl herself is b bely 14 or 15? Only their pargonnts prox go a demeanor be secured with the amount of funds the man and his family net income in guide of the girl. This heinous crime cannot be termed as conjugal union it is plainly merchandising of the girl child. The man leave alone molest her at a tender age and at the selfsame(prenominal) time he will kiss death pretty soon. The girl will end up creation so horrified with the custom of brotherhood that she will d ar not compute the institution again. A whole afterlife filled with frustration and anger will result thereby. The sad freshs is that the institution of child espousal is exempt in progress to in India in a chip of villages and di exacts. Though the government has taken strict actions and child labor union has been decl ard as a big crime, still this act is prevalent till today.Definition of child matingIndiaThe definition of child brotherhood was last updated by India with its The Prohibition of chela pairing Act of 2006, which applies only (a) to Hindus, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and those who ar non-Muslims of India, and (b) outside the state of Jammu and Kashmir. For Muslims of India, child spousals definition and regulations based on Sharia and Nikah has been claimed as a personal law subject. For all others, The Prohibition of Child wedding ordinance Act of 2006 defines child join subject matter a marriage, or a marriage active to be solemnized, to which either of the detection parties is a child and child for purposes of marriage is defined based on gender of the person if a male, it is 21 long time of age, and if a female, 18 age of age. humankindUNICEF defines child marriage as a formal marriage or intimate union before 18 historic period of age. UN Women has proposed that child marriage be defined as a forced marriage beca workout they believe children under age 18 be incapable of giving a legally valid consent.StatisticsThe small s ample surveys have different methods of estimating overall child marriages in India, some using multi-year institution data. For example, NFHS-3 data for 2005 mentioned in above table, employ a survey of women aged 2024, where they were asked if they were married before they were 18. The NFHS-3 also surveyed one-time(a) women, up to the age of 49, asking the same question. The survey found that many much than 40-49 were married before they turned 18, than 20-24 age women who were interviewed. In 1970s, the minimum legal age of marriage, in India, for women was 15.The states with highest observed marriage rates for under-18 girls in 2009, according to a vertical flute General of India report, were Jharkhand (14.1%), West Bengal (13.6%), Bihar (9.3%), Uttar Pradesh (8.9%) and Assam (8.8%). According to this report, disrespect sharp reductions in child marriage rates since 1991, still 7% of women leaving the age of 18 in India were married as of 2009. UNICEF India has played a significant friendly occasion in highlighting the Indian child marriage rate prevalence data from its 1990s study. According to 2011 nationwide census of India, the average ag e of marriage for women in India is 21. In the age group 15-19, 69.6% of all women surveyed in India had never been married.why DOES CHILD MARRIAGE HAPPEN?(Reasons) traditionChild marriage is a conventional practise that in many places happens simply because it has happened for generations and straying from tradition could mean elision from the community. In study sites, impel to lodge by societal norms was also cited as a reason for the persistence of proterozoic marriage. While these norms were clformer(a) internalized by fires, neighbours and others in the community also exerted overt pinch on resurrects to get their juvenility womans married at a young age. Such pressure included enquiring from parents why they were not getting their daughters married, passing unpleasant comments about the unwedded girl and her parents or bringing them proposals for marriage. merely as Graa Machel, widow of Nelson Mandela, says, traditions are unclutter by people we can fa lsify them.Institution of patriarchyIn many communities where child marriage is practised, girls are not valued as overmuch as boys they are seen as a burden. The challenge will be to dislodge parents attitudes and emphasise that girls who annul primeval marriage and stay in naturalize will probably be able to puzzle a greater contribution to their family and their community in the long term. It is important to view the phenomenon of child marriage within the linguistic context of patriarchy. Patriarchy has a strong direct on Indian Society. It operates at all levels on the basis of excite, age and caste and contributes in lowering the status of women in every possible manner.Stratification and specialism on the basis of gender are integral features of Patriarchy in India sexual natural process differences are reflected in the sexual socio-economic class of labour between the productive and fruitful activities. The collective set of patriarchy reinforces the subord ination of women in the name of care, fosterion and eudaimonia and makes them dependent on men throughout their lives. Child marriages for women, comparative seniority of husbands, and patrilocal abode upon marriage are thus the attributes of the aged institution.Poverty (Dowry & economic determinants)Where penury is acute, giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce family expenses by ensuring they have one slight person to feed, habilitate and educate. In communities where a dowery or bride price is paid, it is oft meet income for silly families in those where the brides family pay the coiffe a parcel, they a great deal have to pay less money if the bride is young and uneducated. asunder from ghostly considerations, the other reason for child marriages among the higher caste is fate. Traditionally, dowry was not prevalent among lower castes, most of whom come withed the setback custom of bride price.Most Brahmans also did not institutionalise dowry, but in re pennyime age this custom has panoptic itself among cardinal higher and some lower castes. steady non-Hindu communities have not escaped from its ugly influence. It has been found that quantum of dowry increases with the age and instructional level of the perspective brides. Some pep pill castes parents like to keep their daughters uneducated and marry them off young to block unfathomed dowry demand Parents who are poor and have more(prenominal) than one daughter often arrange the marriage of all their daughters collectively, in one ceremony, to reduce marriage costs. To aidle words more expenditure by marrying her at a later age, parents prefer to marry her off at an former age. at that placefore, the system of dowry perpetuates child marriages. credentialMany parents marry off their daughters young because they feel it is in her best interest, often to ensure her safety in areas where girls are at high hazard of physiological or sexual assault. Par ents of a child entering into a child marriage are often poor and use the marriage as a instruction to make her future better, oddly in areas with little economic opportunities. Dowry is a exert in India where the brides family transfers riches to the get dressed in many cases, it is a demand and condition of marriage from the grooms family. Dowry is found among all religious faiths in India, and the amount of dowry demanded and translaten by the brides family has been jibe to the age of girl. Nagi, in 1993, suggested that the practice of dowry creates a fear and pressure to a overturn late marriages, and encourages early marriage.Poverty in India has been cited as a cause of early marriages. Child marriages of girls are a way out of desperate economic conditions, and way to reduce the expenses of a poor family. In some parts of India, the existence of personal laws for Muslims is a cause of child marriages. For example, in Kerala, 3400 girls of 13-18 ages were married in 201 2 in the district of Malappuram. Of these, 2800 were Muslim (82%). Efforts to stop this practice with law enforcement have been protested and challenged in courts by Indian Union Muslim League and other Islamic organizations, with the petition that setting a minimum age for marriage of Muslim girls challenges their religious estimables.What is the uphold of Child matrimony?(Consequences)Child marriage has lasting here and nows on girls, which last well beyond adolescence. Women married in their teens or earlier, struggle with the wellness effects of getting pregnant in any case young and too often. Early marriages followed by teen pregnancy also significantly increase carry complications and social isolation. In poor countries, early pregnancy limits or eliminates their education options. This affects their economic independence. Girls in child marriages are more believably to keep up from domestic wildness, child sexual abuse, and married set on.EDUCATIONChild marriage o ften means the end of education for girls. It is intimately linked to girls dropping out of school, denying children their right to the education they need for their personal evolution, their planning for adulthood, and their magnate to contribute to their family and community. Out of school and in marriage, child brides are denied the ability to learn the skills that could help them earn an income and spring up them and their children out of pauperization. Married girls who would like to stretch educate may be some(prenominal) practically and legally excluded from doing so. Child marriage is a major barrier to build up on girls education. Over sixty per cent of child brides in developing countries have had no formal education. Many girls arent in education because schools are untracked or expensive, because of the traditional role girls are expected to play in the household, or simply because parents dont see the value of education for their daughters.Child marriage and a lack of education for girls are both underpinned by girls low status. lesser or no schooling potently correlates with being married at a young age. Conversely, attending school and having higher levels of education protect girls from the possibility of early marriage. In many countries, educating girls often is less of a priority than educating boys. When a womans most important role is considered to be that of a wife, mother and homemaker, schooling girls and preparing them for the jobs may be given pithy shrift. And even when poor families want to localise their daughters to school, they often lack access to nearby, fibre schools and the ability to pay school fees. It is unremarkably safer and economically more rewarding to devolve limited resources on educating sons than daughters. This boxes families into early marriage as the only viable option for girls.HEALTHChild marriage can have annihilative consequences for a girls health. It encourages the initiation of se xual activity at an age when girls bodies are still developing and when they know little about their sexual and reproductive health. Neither physically or emotionally ready to give birth, child brides cheek higher risk of death in childbirth and are particularly vulnerable to pregnancy-related injuries such as obstetric fistula. It is extremely gruelling for child brides to assert their wishes and needs to their usually ripened husbands, particularly when it comes to negotiating safe sexual practices and the use of family planning methods.Child brides often shell intense social pressure to farm their fertility. When a girl marries as a child, the health of her children suffers too. The children of child brides are at substantially greater risk of perinatal infant mortality and morbidity, and stillbirths and new- natural deaths are 50% higher in mothers younger than 20 years than in women who give birth later. There is little doubt that diminution child marriage will help to en sure more children survive into adulthood. needPoverty is one of the main drivers of child marriage. Child brides are more likely to be poor and to inhabit poor. Where poverty is acute, giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce family expenses by ensuring they have one less person to feed, invest and educate. In communities where economic transactions are integral to the marriage process, a dowry or bride price is often welcome income for poor families. Child marriage traps girls and their families in a cycle of poverty. Girls who marry young do not receive the educational and economic opportunities that help lift them and their families out of poverty and their children are more likely to undergo the same fate.Domestic military unitMarried teenage girls with low levels of education suffer greater risk of social isolation, domestic violence and sexual violence from their spouses, than more educated women who marry as adults. Domestic and sexual violence from their hu sbands has lifelong, devastating mental health consequences for young girls because they are at a formative floor of psychological development. Child brides, particularly in situations such as vani, also face social isolation, emotional abuse and variation in the homes of their husbands and in-laws.Womens rightsChild marriages impact a range of womens rights such as access to education, exemption of ride, freedom from violence, reproductive rights, and the right to consensual marriage. The consequence of these infractions impacts not only the woman, but her children and broader society.Trafficking and sale of girlsChild marriage also results in the trafficking of children for various purposes, including prostitution, labour and exploitation. Young girls are lured/forced into marriage for the purpose of selling them to other states. Rajib Haldar, Secretary, Prayas, says Trafficking of married girls is rampant in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and even Kerala.. Also, a survey of victims of trafficking revealed that 71.8 per cent of the respondents were married when they were children (i.e., when they were less than 18 years of age). This suggests that child marriage is among the key factors that make women and children vulnerable to traffickingLaws against child marriageThe Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929The Child Marriage Restraint Act, also called the genus Sarda Act, was a law to restrict the practice of child marriage. It was enacted on 1 April 1930, extended across the whole nation, with the exceptions of the states of Jammu and Kashmir, and applied to every Indian citizen. Its goal was to eliminate the dangers set(p) on young girls who could not divvy up the stress of married life and avoid early deaths. This Act defined a male child as 21 years or younger, a female child as 18 years or younger, and a minor as a child of either sex 18 years or younger. The penalization for a male between 18 and 21 years marrying a child became impri sonment of up to 15 days, a fine of 1,000 rupees, or both.The penalty for a male above 21 years of age became imprisonment of up to trey months and a possible fine. The punishment for anyone who performed or directed a child marriage ceremony became imprisonment of up to trine months and a possible fine, unless he could conjure up the marriage he performed was not a child marriage. The punishment for a parent or guardian of a child taking place in the marriage became imprisonment of up to three months or a possible fine. It was amended in 1940 and 1978 to continue rising the ages of male and female children.The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006In response to the plea (Writ Petition (C) 212/2003) of the assembly for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy at the Supreme Court, the Government of India brought the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) in 2006, and it came into effect on 1 November 2007 to address and fix the shortcomings of the Child Marriage Restraint Act. The change in name was meant to reflect the prevention and prohibition of child marriage, rather than restraining it. The previous Act also made it difficult and time consuming to act against child marriages and did not focus on authorities as possible figures for preventing the marriages. This Act unplowed the ages of adult males and females the same but made some significant changes to further protect the children.Boys and girls forced into child marriages as bush league have the option of voiding their marriage up to two years after(prenominal) reaching adulthood, and in certain circumstances, marriages of minor league can be null and void before they reach adulthood. All valuables, money, and gifts inbrediness be returned if the marriage is nullified, and the girl must(prenominal) be provided with a place of abidance until she marries or bewilders an adult. Children born from child marriages are considered legitimate, and the courts are expected to give parental custody with the childrens best interests in mind. Any male over 18 years of age who enters into a marriage with a minor or anyone who directs or conducts a child marriage ceremony can be punished with up to two years of imprisonment or a fine.ApplicabilityMuslim organizations of India have long argued that Indian laws, passed by its parliament, such as the 2006 child marriage law do not apply to Muslims, because marriage is a personal law subject. The Delhi heights Court, as well as other state high courts of India, have disagreed. The Delhi Court, for example, command that Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 overrides all personal laws and governs each and every citizen of India. The command stated that an under-age marriage, where either the man or woman is over 16 years old, would not be a void marriage but voidable one, which would become valid if no steps are taken by such court has option to order otherwise. In case either of the parties is less than 16 years old, the marriage is void, given the age of consent is 16 in India, sex with minors under the age of 16 is a statutory crime under office 376 of Indian penal Code.Legal live up to on Legal ConfusionThere is a standing legal muddiness as to matrimonial Rape within proscribe Child Marriages in India. Marital rape per se is not a crime in India but the limit with regard to children is confusing. While the exception under the criminal law (section 375, Indian Penal Code, 1860) applicable to adults puts an exception and allows marital rape of a girl child between the age of 1518 years by her husband another new and progressive legislation Protection of Children from versed Offences Act, 2012 disallows any such sexual relationships and puts such crimes with marriages as an aggravated offense. A everyday Interest Litigation filled by case-by-case Thought www.ithought.in an organization work on child rights law, is being comprehend in the Honble Supreme Court of India for declaring the exception allowing marital rape within prohibited child marriages as unconstitutional Independent Thought vs. Union of India W.P(civil) 382 of 2013.CEDAWThe Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, commonly known as CEDAW, is an international cock attempting to end discrimination against women. Article 16, Marriage and Family Life, states that all women, as well as men, have the right to choose their spouse, to have the same responsibilities, and to decide on how many children and the spacing between them. This convention states that child marriage should not have a legal effect, all action must be taken to enforce a minimum age, and that all marriages must be put into an official registry. India signed the convention on 30 July 1980 but made the declaration that, because of the nations surface and amount of people, its impractical to have a registration of marriages.ConclusionChild marriage is an age old practice that is still prevalent in I ndia, especially in the state of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana till today. The development and modernization of India and with the implementation of the strict rules of mature age to be 18 for girls and 21 for boys has resulted in a considerable descent in the number of child marriages. becalm there is a lack of sensation in small villages where the illegal practice of Child marriage is prevalent. The legal age for marriage in India is 18 years for girls and 21 for boys. Any marriage of a person younger than this is banned under the Child Marriage Prevention Act, 1929. It is an demonstrable fact that a wide number of child marriages are performed in violation of the existing provisions of the law, particularly on Akha Teej or Akshaya Tritiya. When child marriage takes place, the children are too young to understand what marriage means. It is true that there is a large body of social opinion and public practice that sanctions early marriage. It is a rel igious tradition in many places in India and therefore difficult to change.The dire consequences that follow child marriage, particularly for girls are the childs education is sacrificed, girls become more vulnerable to domestic violence and receivable to early pregnancies their health gets much worse. The babies born to girls under 16 are more likely to die during their first year of life. UNICEF describes child marriage as a gross violation of all categories of child rights. It is a social evil that has flying the status of girl child in our society. Child marriage is against the law but the marriage itself is valid once performed, even if the child was as young as 5 years at the time. practice of law cannot make arrests without applying for a Magistrates order. The fall in provision for simple imprisonment for 3 months and a fine has proved in all inadequate. To stop this menace, the law must make registration of all marriages mandatory.Stringency of punishment is the next important element in the strategy to tackle this menace. The appointment of anti-child marriage officers in every State, and making it a law that anyone who attends a child marriage has to report it, would help in checking child marriage What is required on the part of the citizens and the government in general is to join hands and raise a movement so wide that every parent could only visualize themselves locked up in jails even if they think of committing such a crime. It is essential on the part of the citizens to remain active. People who witness child marriages should be determined enough to launch a police complaint against the parents of both the bride and groom. It is essential on the part of the government to deliver the people who inform about the conductivity of child marriages and also to enforce harder laws to disapprove this practice. Thus by helping two children from entering into such a dreaded affair, you are assuring a brighter future not only for these child ren but for India as a whole.Bibliography1) Jaya Sagade, Child Marriage in India Oxford University Press, New Delhi.2) http//webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cachehttp//www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/india/&gws_rd=cr&ei=cBktVaSCGI6QuASvsIDwBQ3) http//www.csrindia.org/child-marriage-in-india4) http//middleeast.about.com/od/humanrightsdemocracy/a/child-brides.htm